"We've found there's considerable overlap between the dumbest human and the smartest bear."

As a general reply to dogs and cats, i didnt mean to suggest (if anyone thought this) that cats are dumb, they clearly have some level of intelligence and i agree they have their own agenda. Its just when comparing the average cat to the average dog, the dog is more intelligent.

It has done this through a very similar method that modern humans have - by becoming more sociable. Being sociable and picking up on human body language so they can please their human requires a larger brain.

Cats havent gone through this process as much, as they are more solitary and so they dont get these accidental benefits of being sociable. I am sure there is some super smart cat though, where the cat be used as a cat for the blind instead of a dog.

One thing i have noticed when cats and dogs are together is, bigger dogs tend to leave cats alone where as the smaller dogs (roughly the size of the cat) seem to have a go at it more often. I dont know if others have the same experiences with their pets? Perhaps its just a matter of training the larger dogs better as they could easily injure the cat, where as a small dog is probably going to come off worse against a cat and its sharp retractable claws, lol.

The level of intelligence shown by animals (i will admit even cats :P) is far greater than people previously thought. I can remember watching a tv show about this female gorilla that could use sign language and when she watched her favourite film and the sad part came on she cried! It also had a dog that worked out what a word was, from having it said to them once - border collie naturally, so practically a human, lol.